There it is again
coming from the fading past
a thousand shadows
echoing at me,
"Don't you want it back?"
Easier to think
to dream
those happy little thoughts
(little dreams)
when it's all fallen
a p a r t
when you
and I
(ah, you
and I)
are completely
estranged
broken into
a million pieces
of something that
may never have existed
in the first place,
easier than facing
the cold, hard
facts, but still it's
Tartarus.

Author's Notes: I wrote this on my trip to Florida after a tantalizing escapade that I won't go into detail about. The emotions presented in the poem are the usual, but the idea (Tantalus, Tartarus...) comes from Greek mythology. "Tartarus" (the last word of the poem, in case you forgot already, lol) is the name of the part of Hades (the underworld, that is) where the evil go to be punished--identified with hell. "Tantalus" was the name of a king who was sent to Tartarus and was put up to the neck in water just underneath an apple(?) tree, only to have the water recede when he was thirsty and the fruitful branch rise when he was hungry. If you've pieced it together, you also realize that "Tantalus" was the Greek word from which we got "tantalize." Greek Mythology/Semantics 101 for ya.
Anyway, you can see how that myth ties into this whole thing--what with the tantalizing. Also, my mom and sister were watching the premiere of "Dead Zone" (based on Stephen King's characters) as I wrote this, and so some elements happening in that may have turned up in the poem. I wouldn't really know (I wasn't paying attention that much), but I thought I'd mention it.
It seems that my A/N gets longer and longer every poem I write. ^_^; That's it, this time. Once again, thanks for reading!! ~Mistress Jakira
Date of Composition: June 17, 2002